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A Mason district judge has ruled blood tests on a motorist to determine marijuana presence cannot be used in a case because the head of the Michigan State Police crime laboratory's toxicology unit couldn't convince the judge that testing procedures were "scientifically sound."
State police crime labs analyze blood and urine samples for blood and alcohol, often in tests of Michigan's driving-under-the-influence laws.
The lab annually performs about 13,000 tests for alcohol and 2,500 tests for drugs.
Defense attorney Michael Nichols, who represents the motorist, said the Ingham County case could affect prosecutions statewide of drivers suspected of operating under the influence of marijuana.
"We believe this (ruling) is earth-shattering and hope it will lead to striking down any case in which a driver's suspected intoxication by marijuana is at issue," Nichols said.
The Ingham County Prosecutor's Office has not indicated if it will appeal the ruling of Mason's 55th District Judge Thomas P. Boyd. Jury selection in the case, which includes charges of failing to stop at the scene of an accident and possession of a controlled substance, is set for Jan. 7, according to Nichols' office. The charges are misdemeanors carrying penalities of up to 93 days in jail and fines.
The Prosecutor's Office would not comment.
The judge's ruling was on a technical scientific issue that has been resolved and won't likely affect other marijuana-related cases, said Capt. Gregoire Michaud, head of the state police Forensic Science Division.
"Some defense attorneys may try to use this in future trials, but the fact remains that we only need to show the presence of the drug," Michaud said in an email.
On Dec. 10, Boyd issued the eight-page ruling involving a May 4, 2011, case in which an Ingham County deputy pulled over an SUV matching the description of a vehicle thathad earlier rear-ended another vehicle on Interstate 96 and left the scene.
Blood was drawn from the SUV driver, Jon Goodburn, after deputiesfound a marijuana pipe and smallquantity of marijuana while conducting a warrantless search of the SUV. Goodburn consented to the search, according to deputies.
Goodburn's blood subsequently tested positive for the chemical compound THC, an active ingredient of marijuana that causes intoxication in smokers, police said.
Nichols said he challenged whether the state police lab's testing was consistent with scientific standards and contended it couldn't be validated "due tothe presence of discrepancies in control testing and an absence of documentation explaining these discrepancies."
While Boyd denied Nichols' motion to suppress evidence seized from Goodburn's SUV, the judge agreed to throw out the results of the blood test.
"The Court does not find that the procedures of the MSP Lab are inadequate or beneath currently accepted standards," Boyd wrote in his opinion. "Specifically, the Court finds that questions raised by the defense were not answered in such a way that leads the Court to conclude that the offered evidence is scientifically sound."
The head of the state police toxicology unit,Geoffrey French, appeared before Boyd to explain lab procedures, but Boyd's opinion said French was not persuasive.
Countering French's representations at the court hearing was Dr. Andreas Stolz, head of operations at the National Superconducting Cyclotron at Michigan State University.
Stolz told Boyd he and others would not accept results of the state police tests for THC for a number of reasons, including that they lacked an acceptable margin of error and that data were not arrived at in a manner recognized by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors, a national group that recently certified the state labs.
Michaud said a "variance measurement" was inaccurate and done by an employee who no longer works for the toxicology unit. The unit has changed its procedures on what he called uncertainty measurements.
"The truth of the matter is that this uncertainty measurement doesn't impact the presence of the drug, which is all the law requires," Michaud said.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: detroitnews.com
Author: Mike Martindale
Contact: mmartindale@detnews.com
Website: Court strikes pot blood test | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com
State police crime labs analyze blood and urine samples for blood and alcohol, often in tests of Michigan's driving-under-the-influence laws.
The lab annually performs about 13,000 tests for alcohol and 2,500 tests for drugs.
Defense attorney Michael Nichols, who represents the motorist, said the Ingham County case could affect prosecutions statewide of drivers suspected of operating under the influence of marijuana.
"We believe this (ruling) is earth-shattering and hope it will lead to striking down any case in which a driver's suspected intoxication by marijuana is at issue," Nichols said.
The Ingham County Prosecutor's Office has not indicated if it will appeal the ruling of Mason's 55th District Judge Thomas P. Boyd. Jury selection in the case, which includes charges of failing to stop at the scene of an accident and possession of a controlled substance, is set for Jan. 7, according to Nichols' office. The charges are misdemeanors carrying penalities of up to 93 days in jail and fines.
The Prosecutor's Office would not comment.
The judge's ruling was on a technical scientific issue that has been resolved and won't likely affect other marijuana-related cases, said Capt. Gregoire Michaud, head of the state police Forensic Science Division.
"Some defense attorneys may try to use this in future trials, but the fact remains that we only need to show the presence of the drug," Michaud said in an email.
On Dec. 10, Boyd issued the eight-page ruling involving a May 4, 2011, case in which an Ingham County deputy pulled over an SUV matching the description of a vehicle thathad earlier rear-ended another vehicle on Interstate 96 and left the scene.
Blood was drawn from the SUV driver, Jon Goodburn, after deputiesfound a marijuana pipe and smallquantity of marijuana while conducting a warrantless search of the SUV. Goodburn consented to the search, according to deputies.
Goodburn's blood subsequently tested positive for the chemical compound THC, an active ingredient of marijuana that causes intoxication in smokers, police said.
Nichols said he challenged whether the state police lab's testing was consistent with scientific standards and contended it couldn't be validated "due tothe presence of discrepancies in control testing and an absence of documentation explaining these discrepancies."
While Boyd denied Nichols' motion to suppress evidence seized from Goodburn's SUV, the judge agreed to throw out the results of the blood test.
"The Court does not find that the procedures of the MSP Lab are inadequate or beneath currently accepted standards," Boyd wrote in his opinion. "Specifically, the Court finds that questions raised by the defense were not answered in such a way that leads the Court to conclude that the offered evidence is scientifically sound."
The head of the state police toxicology unit,Geoffrey French, appeared before Boyd to explain lab procedures, but Boyd's opinion said French was not persuasive.
Countering French's representations at the court hearing was Dr. Andreas Stolz, head of operations at the National Superconducting Cyclotron at Michigan State University.
Stolz told Boyd he and others would not accept results of the state police tests for THC for a number of reasons, including that they lacked an acceptable margin of error and that data were not arrived at in a manner recognized by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors, a national group that recently certified the state labs.
Michaud said a "variance measurement" was inaccurate and done by an employee who no longer works for the toxicology unit. The unit has changed its procedures on what he called uncertainty measurements.
"The truth of the matter is that this uncertainty measurement doesn't impact the presence of the drug, which is all the law requires," Michaud said.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: detroitnews.com
Author: Mike Martindale
Contact: mmartindale@detnews.com
Website: Court strikes pot blood test | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com
